Wish Fulfillment

Rally slept through dinner, and the night, too, not waking up until the next afternoon. It was the same thing as last time that woke her up, an erection, but all the stallion could do now was grunt in frustration. It had been only a day and a half, but she was already completely over it.

She opened her eyes and felt her hooves and legs aching, muscles sore from the time she spent walking. She didn’t know how far it was, but it must have been at least twenty miles. Not to mention, her coat still felt stiff despite being in the warmth of Rusty Bucket’s house for hours now, and the tips of her ears and muzzle were stinging. She was fairly certain they were at least a little bit frostbitten, and wanted anything but to get out of bed. The only reason she put in the effort to do so was to go to the restroom.

Outside of the obvious dysphoria, the stallion found simply using the restroom to be an ordeal. She’d been intentionally trying to avoid looking at herself, but now she had to take time to inspect them, simply because their setup was completely different from a human’s. Not to mention, significantly larger. It didn’t help being on four legs or having a body as large as Shining Armor’s. It also didn’t help that the toilet looked almost exactly the same as one she’d find on Earth, not changed in any way to accommodate ponies. She wondered how she was even supposed to set herself up, especially with morning wood that still hadn’t gone down.

She eventually found herself standing on her hind legs with one hoof against the wall just to have a chance at not missing the bowl. She almost considered whether it would be more worth it to just pee in the shower, the only thing stopping her from doing so being the fact that this wasn’t her home. Needless to say, it was a process, one that felt like it took an unbearably long time and one that she knew wasn’t doing anything to improve her mental state.

She went in the shower again immediately afterward, and turned the water hot enough to almost burn the skin below her fur. All of the feelings she had yesterday– the tears and pain and dysphoria and fear– felt like they were more muted today. Or perhaps it was just that she couldn’t express her emotions as well now. She found herself wanting to cry, but instead scowling and grumbling to herself, letting the water wash over her fur. It probably was best if she didn’t cry anyway. There was a lot to do, although exactly how much, she didn’t know. But getting out of the middle of this frozen wasteland was first on her list of priorities.

Rally stayed in the shower long enough to calm down both physically and mentally before heading out and looking for Rusty Bucket. He’d left the position he was in on the couch yesterday, one where he had his legs splayed open while he laid down, as though nothing was in between them, which the stallion was thankful for. However, she wanted to talk to him about where Ponyville or Canterlot might be. She didn’t have any good guess as to where in Equestria Mount Everhoof was located.

She found him outside, sitting on his front porch, all dressed up and stick for a staff in hoof. He stared straight ahead, letting out a bored sigh. Whatever his job was, Rally couldn’t say it looked like it was any fun, or the least bit interesting.

“Do you just sit out here all day?” she asked as she stepped out, too, standing in the doorway. She didn’t want to head too far out into the cold today, having already spent enough time freezing her bits off. She leaned on the doorframe to support herself, still extremely tired, legs wobbling as she stood.

“This looks like a super boring job,” she said, trying to make small talk.

“Eh, most of the time it is, but somepony has ta do it, otherwise who’d help somepony in need when they’re about ta fall down a cliff?” The stallion’s ears lowered in embarrassed from the memory as Rusty Bucket continued, “The princess herself says it’s a important job. She pays me a good bit ta guard this here mountain.”

That was certainly interesting to hear, and led into Rally’s next question. “Do you think you could take me to Canterlot? I don’t really know where I’m going, but that seems like a good first spot to head to. That or Ponyville.”

“Can’t leave my post,” he told her. “That’ll be a trip ya hafta make on yer own. There’s a train in the Crystal Empire that goes directly there. Costs a bit ta get there though, more bits than I’m willin’ ta pay.”

“Where exactly is the Crystal Empire?”

“Just ta the south of here, past the Crystal Forest. Probably a four or five day walk from here if I recall correctly, but I got me teleportation ta help me. Guess it depends on how fast ya move and what ya can do how fast ya get there.”

A four or five day journey, Rally thought as she rolled her eyes. At least. It just keeps on getting worse, doesn’t it? This is gonna be such a bitch of a time getting anywhere.

The Crystal Empire might have been good enough though. If she could talk to Princess Cadance or Prince Shining Armor, she could probably get to Twilight Sparkle directly. And then from there, if Twilight turned her into a mare, Lord Zulu’s attempt to teach her a lesson for mocking him might turn out to be incredibly worth it. Being able to have kids of her own would be pretty darn close to that.

Yeah, right. With the way things were going, the second my body was fixed, I’d get pneumonia and die.

Regardless though, the stallion wasn’t going to be leaving now. As much as Rally wanted to say, “Screw it,” and continue onward, she was much too tired to do anything tonight. If she headed out without at least one more day of rest, she’d probably collapse and die from exhaustion before she got there.

“I can get ya some stuff for yer trip if ya wanted it,” Rusty Bucket offered. “I got tents and a little supplies ya can have. I don’t need it much.”

“I’d really appreciate anything you can offer, thank you,” she said gratefully. Then she sighed and continued, “This is going to be so much trouble trying to get through all of this.”

“Well how’d ya get up here in the first place?”

“Some guy named Lord Zulu teleported me up here,” she explained. “I’m actually not from Equestria. I’m from another world entirely called ‘Earth’. I asked that guy for a spell to turn into a pony and live in Equestria, but I guess he got mad at me for deciding to joke around a tiny bit because he put me at the top of this mountain and turned me into a stallion.”

“That second bit. Are ya not supposed ta be a stallion?”

“No…” Yesterday she might have cried, but right now, all she had was indignant frustration. Rally grunted and grinded a hoof into the ground as she continued, “

“I mean, it’s a whole complicated mess of a story what I am, but no. I’m a woman… err, a mare. I’ve been one for way too long to want to go back to living like this.”

“Go back to?”

“That’s the part that’s the complicated mess. The point is I guess I need to learn my lesson for making a joke with Lord Zulu. He said I was gonna die a stallion, and you know what? He might be right when I fucking kill myself.”

That got Rusty Bucket’s eyes to go wide with concern, and the stallion quickly backtracked. “I’m not actually gonna kill myself,” she said. “I was just exaggerating to say I hate this is all.”

Besides, I can’t kill myself if the cold kills me first! Lord Zulu wins again! God, It’s gonna be so much fun going back out there. I can’t wait. And that was going to be all the complaining she would do for the day she decided. Complaining was not going to make her walk any faster or feel any better.

“Mmm. Well, I can see how ya might not like that,” Rusty commented thoughtfully. “Can’t say I’d take ta being a mare very much, but I’m a stallion born and raised. Don’t think I know any stallion that’s not either. But if anypony can help ya, it’s sure ta be Princess Cadance. I heard a bunch of stories about how she and her sister help ponies all the time. Probably would be nothing for her ta fix ya right on up.”

“That’s what I was thinking. But I’m just way too tired to head out now, as much as I want to get going.”

“Well, yer always welcome ta stay here as long as ya want. Like I said, ain’t no trouble ta me. Speakin’ of which, I don’t recall ya havin’ supper last night. Let me go ahead and get started on some.”

They both headed back inside with that, and he got started on gathering things for her to take when she left. She did her best to ignore him taking off his cloak again and looked around his house to take it all in. It was just as pristine looking to her as it was yesterday, reminding her of the home she lived in when she was five. There were a few couches put up in the living room, and a dining room effectively attached to it with a kitchen farther back. It was all one level, which made the place feel bigger, and the warm fire was still burning. If she could own a house like this sometime, she would.

Rally headed to the bookshelf to see if she recognized anything, one with a horseshoe on the cover and five gems with a star in the middle of it being recognizable to her. A quick look inside at the first couple of pages confirmed it was indeed Twilight’s Book of Friendship, and gave her a little bit of information. She was placed into Equestria after season six, and before the middle of season nine, probably in either season seven or eight. It was a good piece of information to have, and would probably be useful in the future.

She only read a couple of the stories before Rusty Bucket came back in and offered her a plate of food. Afterward, he talked with her and came up with a list of supplies she would need to get to the Crystal Empire, and assured her that he would have it ready for her in the morning.

It wasn’t quite sunset when she started to get tired again, and yawned as her desire to sleep again took over. Before she went back to the bedroom though, she took the chance to ask Rusty Bucket a couple of questions, starting with Princess Luna and what she said in her dreams.

“I was having a nightmare and Princess Luna visited me in my dreams,” the stallion started. “She said something about not being able to help me because I’m not an Equestrian? Do you know what’s up with that?”

“Oh, Princess Luna don’t be visitin’ the dreams of us here in the Crystal Empire,” he explained. “The border between them and Equestria extends about halfway up Mount Everhoof. I heard it’s because Princess Celestia wants to make sure Grogar’s bell stays in Equestrian borders, but as to why, I don’t know. But as of now, you’re officially in the territory of the Crystal Empire.”

“But what does that have to do with she not being able to help me? She saw me in my dreams and I told her I was stranded up there but she didn’t do anything because of some international law.”

Rusty Bucket shrugged, saying, “Probably somethin’ that was put into place hundreds of years ago that nopony cares about. She’s a stickler for things like that. All of them are, actually.”

That didn’t sound great to hear. She could only wonder how much trouble it would be to try and get something done hearing that if they didn’t even want to help her when she said she was stranded at the top of a mountain. How much trouble she might get in just for being in Equestria in the first place. Rally hoped he was just exaggerating the truth and that it was only Princess Luna who acted like that.

He put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder and said, “Don’t ya worry one bit. Princess Cadance is as nice as ever. I met with her a few times, and she was nothin’ but kind ta me. I’m sure she’ll be ta you as well. The ponies of the Crystal Empire can be a bit... eccentric, but the princess herself is sweet as pie.”

That honestly made her feel a little bit better, enough that she was able to muster up her first smile as a pony.

“Thank you,” she told him, before yawning and saying, “I guess I’ll head to sleep now so I can wake up early to head out tomorrow. Um, can you show me the supplies you were talking about?”

“I don’t have it out yet, but I’ll get it set out for ya while ya rest. But ya don’t have ta leave tomorrow. Ya can stay here as long as ya want. It’s nice havin’ some company with me.”

“I’m not keen on going back out so quickly, but I cannot stand the idea of being in this body for one second longer than I have to,” she replied. “Being a man is just… ugh.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to keep herself composed, then finished, “But I’m gonna head off to bed now. Wake me up when the morning time comes? I don’t want to waste any time tomorrow trying to get to the Crystal Empire.”

“Sure, I’ll be sure to. Ya better go on now and rest up then. And if ya ever decide ta come back and visit Mount Everhoof again, make sure ta stop by.”

“I’ll be sure to,” Rally assured him as she trudged off. “Goodnight.”